More lucky door prizes etc.

I love seeing lots of pretty little matching packages lined up! These are the doovers I gave out as Hostess Gifts and Lucky Door prizes on the weekend. Lucky door prizes are so much fun. I usually ask catalogue questions, like how many frogs are there shown on page xx of the IBC? Or how many colour names start with the letter P? Then everyone goes furiously flicking through the catties. It is my favourite bit of the workshop. Does this make me a bad demo ;-).

The tall package at the back is a cardstock sampler, with 5 sheets of A4 cardstock cut to different sizes for layering. The one in the middle at the front is a ribbon sampler, with four different colours of Grosgrain (50 cm long). The card on the left is the Hostess thank you (which I have shown on my blog previously), and the doover on the far right is a sponge sample.

My new favourite stamp set!

I did not even like this stamp set at first glance. I wasn't going to buy it from the Spring Mini catty. But I kept going back to it so I got it, and I LOVE it. It is so versatile and so pretty. Hope I don't bore you to tears with it.

It is the You Make me Happy set! The cardstock colours are: Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Whisper White. I have rock n' Rolled the large flowers. The left hand one is Regal Rose and Rose Red and the Right hand one is Bordering Blue and Brocade Blue. I have put a brad through the centre, and mounted the flower on a dimensional. The ribbons are Candy Shop Ribbon Originals. Have I mentioned how much I love ribbon? ;-).

PS. I used the Petals wheel in the background of the left hand card. But you can easily make a background using just the You Make Me Happy set.

I am so lucky!

I just wanted to say thanks again to Tracy. I received my lovely Blog Candy early this week via EXPRESS POST no less! What a sweetie she is.

Tracy even included some of her beautiful cards. My daughter and I had a lot of fun going through the parcel together. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but will do so soon.

Thanks so much Tracy! :-).

Father's Day Make n' Take

Hello! Long time no read hey? Sorry.

I had a workshop yesterday, so I wanted to show you some of the things we got up to. I think the ladies had fun. I hope so.



We made this card for Father's Day or a masculine birthday etc. The cardstock colours are Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Buckaroo Blue and So Saffron. Ink colours are Buckaroo Blue, Not Quite Navy and Basic Black. The stamps are Cheesecloth, Set Sail and ?Everyday Flexible Phrases (I don't have my catty here and I'm hopeless with set names...I'll check later and fix it if I got it wrong).

I have sponged around the yacht with Not Quite Navy ink. The yacht and the underlying layer are mounted on dimensionals. The ribbon is from one of the Ribbon Originals sets. Can't remember which one....will have to get back to you on that too. Sorry!

Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Rhonda at Rhonda's Design Haven has very kindly nominated me as a Rockin Girl Blogger!!! Thank you Rhonda :-).

I have to nominate five more Rockin' Bloggers. It is hard to choose only five, but here are a few that I love checking out regularly. These girls have wonderful ideas, and make truly beautiful cards and scrapbook pages:

Tracy at Enchantasy

Marelle at thINKspot

Jo at M.I.S.S. InkyFingers

Kat at Doodles and Dragonflies

Sarah at Sarah Klass

ETA. Sorry about the dodgy links. I think I've fixed them now :-).

I WON BLOG CANDY!

I am so excited right now, I just had to tell someone. I just won my first ever Blog Candy. I won it from Tracy Dening at Enchantasy.

I feel so lucky. I can not remember the last time I won anything at all! I will show you the lovely goodies when they arrive, and will be thinking of what to do for my own blog candy competition, because this is SO MUCH FUN!

Have a great weekend.
Sam.

SWAP CASE

I got a lovely swap card the other week from Tracey Wilson, a fellow Aussie demo, and as soon as I saw it I thought...'what a great idea!'. So here is my version of her card.



I feel like I should be putting in a disclaimer along the lines of 'any errors in this card are wholely attributably to me, not Tracey' etc etc. You know what I mean!

My colours are Vintage Violet and Whisper White cardstock. Inks are Vintage Violet, Cranberry Crisp, Buckaroo Blue and Marigold Morning. Stamps are from Bodacious Boquet, Weathered background and Warmest Regards (Level One Hostess set). Technique is 'masking', but you knew that!!! Also used the slit punch to make the flap to hold the card closed.

Really quick (except the fiddly masking bits) and a great workshop Make n' Take idea (IMO). Thanks Tracey :-).

I've been tagged.......

Rhonda has Tagged me (my first tag ever), and I have to reveal 7 random things about myself. This is hard, because I'm pretty private when it comes to the internet, but here goes:

1/ I studied geology at uni.
2/ I love chocolate, my fav is Cadbury Top Deck.
3/ I love travelling and have been to Antarctica. But if I could go anywhere right now it would be France. I've never been to Paris, but visited various other places and I'd kill to be in a French cheese shop right now ;-).
4/ I love RIBBONs...all ribbons are beautiful. It is my fav embellishment by far. Considering moving to the US so I can get my hands on more beautiful SU ribbons.
5/ I'd love to go buy a holiday shack in the South of France (yeah right!!!) and grow Olive Trees...and eat cheese and crusty French bread.
6/ Ummmmm....I forgot I was supposed to come up with 7, I published it at 5! My favourite flower is the pink oriental lily.
7/ and last but not least.......I hate cleaning up glitter....best go get onto that .

Exciting stuff eh?

My Next Workshop

I am not an uber-demonstrator. My workshops are few and far between, but I do enjoy getting ready for them. This card is something I dreamed up (literally) and I think it will be the thank-you card for my next Hostess. I have designed all the Lucky Door prizes and Hostess Gifts around the same colour theme, and have used Mini Catty products to decorate the goodies, but I can't show you here in case someone from the workshop happens to look here (I don't want to spoil the surprise ;-).

The colours are: Old Olive, Rose Red, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. I designed the ribbon flower myself, and the Ribbons are Light Pink Grosgrain and Light Pink Narrow Organdy. I used Heat and Stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds in the centre....my first go at this technique! The leaves are from the Perfect Match incentive stamp set, the stem is from the Level One Hostess Set Springtime Stems (this is typical of me...using one stamp from about 16 different sets). There is also a piece of Celery Grosgrain. I don't have a spiffy tutorial for making the flower, sorry....if you have any questions let me know.

Mini Catty Swap

This is the card that I made for a recent 'Mini Catty' swap. It has been sent out already, so no spoilers here.

The punched flower idea I got from Kat at Doodles and Dragonflies (I will have to finish this post here in Safari then go fix it in Firefox. Safari does not let me make links, and it is my default browser. Don't ask why I havent swapped over).

The colours I have used are: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red and Regal Rose. The tag punched/folded flower is using the Petals and Paisleys paper from the Spring Mini Catty (which is released here in Oz on 1st August). The stamps are from Scribble This (Doodle This in the US) and Polka Dots and Paisley. The happy is clear embossed over Rose Red ink. On the Pretty in Pink layer I have Jumbo wheeled with Petals in Pretty in Pink ink (that's a mouthful!). The button is Old Olive.

The grass at the bottom of the photo is Synthetic...just laid in our backyard and AWESOME. The kids love it, the gardner (me) loves it, the water catchment monitoring man loves it (we are in a drought and have very strict water restrictions at the moment..no watering grass!!!)...our bank doesn't love it...but you can't please everyone. It was minus 6.8 degrees celcius in the ACT this morning, and thick frost covered every surface, but I still went outside to get this shot for you! What dedication ;-).

Black and White Only swap

I had this card up before, and then decided it probably shouldn't be here until the swap had closed. Well, it closed on Friday...so here it is again. It kind of speaks for itself. I have used Black and White only. Whisper White craft ink on Basic Black cardstock. The heart is embossed white and mounted on dimensionals. The brads are hand embossed white. The ribbon is white organdy.

Overall...simple, yet elegant, in my opinion ;-). Thanks for looking.

Father's Day swap card

If you are in my Father's Day swap...close your eyes ;-). I feel ok about posting this now, as my swaps will be in tomorrow's mail, and the chances of anyone in the swap looking here are minimal.



I got the colour scheme from the Seaside Ribbon Originals. Ballet Blue, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue. The background on the Chocolate Chips is the Square Pegs wheel. The three ballons are Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue and Sage Shadow ink on Whisper White, stamped using the circle from the Simply Circles set. 'Love' is from All about U. 'You' is from Cheery Chat and 'Dad' is done using the Classic Alphabet. All three are in Choc Chip ink. The three ballons are mounted on Dimensionals, with a piece of silver cord attached, and tied together with a piece of Seaside ribbon (mounted with a glue dot). the Sage Shadow border piece is punched using the 1/4 inch square, and the dots are gel pen.

I was looking up at a Galah in a gum tree yesterday and was startled to see that the exact same colours were reflected up there! Bashful Blue to Ballet Blue sky, Sage Shadow gum leaves, and Chocolate Chip bark on the tree! No, I'm not losing it...it really was the same colours.

An IS CASE

Ok, so I haven't posted much recently. I have two excuses. That brown card (see last post) really put me off. Plus, I have been making cardfronts for a Father's Day swap I am in.

Anyway, last night I got a bit of creativity back...but not much, so I CASE'd a card from an Inspiration Sheet for the Dream Come True set.



The cardstock is Bordering Blue, Kraft and Chocolate chip. Ink colours are Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip and Sage Shadow. The background stamp is Aida Cloth, although the IS used Canvas. The IS used Aged Copper Hodgepodge, but I only have Pewter...but I don't think it looks bad here. The ribbons are from the Seaside Ribbon Originals pack. I love those ribbons!!! The Choc Chip panel is mounted on Dimensionals, as is the cut-out heart.

I think Mum will get it for her birthday. Happy Birthday Mum!